Don Quixote

Don Quixote: Reflective Journal

 

 

                                Don  Quixote is obviously insane. But what do we make of something that is so unrealistic, so ridiculous and so unbelievable that people have been, for centuries, driven to parody it and make fun of the strange antics of this man who, to himself, is a savior and a knight? Indeed, in my opinion, knighthood is something that the common man has ne’er understood. That’s why Don Quixote was written: to show that knights will do ridiculous things to prove their valour, and that common sense existed, even in the Middle Ages.

                                Take, for instance, Don Quixote’s famous, “Charging at the windmills”: often, man can take his own morality, his own ideals, too far, especially when he’s in a position where he is faced with fighting for God, or some other equally, “proper” cause. The man who wrote Don Quixote had probably met a few knights or two in his day, and was obviously entertained at the lengths to which they would go to serve their causes.

                For instance, if a knight in the time of the crusades had been attacked by a Moslem and lost his leg, what might he be inspired to do? I would bet a great wage that some knights would honestly, with one leg, and a lot of frustration, set off across the whole of Europe to find and kill all the Arabians that he could before being beset and killed himself. This is a more realistic perception of the point that Miguel de Cervantes is trying to get across: knights were so extravagant and so passionate about their quests and beliefs that they would do anything to fulfill them.

                 Sancho, however is another interesting character to note. Think about the difference between Sancho, a much more simple man, and Quixo in their travelling conversation about bowels: Don says that he would not complain if his insides dropped out because that is what is required of a knight; he will keep to the ordinances no matter what. While Sancho says that if something hurts on his body, he will complain until it is fixed somehow, which is what most common folk would do in this situation.

                During their stay under the trees that night, Don Quixote stays up all night. Any person who’s traveled knows that when you’re traveling, you need to rest while you can get it. Thus, his actions are quite foolish. Sancho, being the once again the man with sense, takes a siesta and a drink, then falls right to sleep, effectively preparing himself for a long journey tomorrow. Any sensible person knows this.

                Sancho’s reactions lead me to believe that Miguel Cervantes included him in the story to first, provide a general contrast to Don Quixote’s extravagance and, second, a relatable character to express precisely how the readers would have responded to that extravagance.

                In essence, Miguel Cervantes wants to express his jubilation and sarcasm at the idea of a ridiculously chivalrous knight, as well as provide us with a relation to our own common sense.